Letter of the month: January 2009

I know this is not a legal question but I have searched the internet
for hours trying to find the correct place to ask certain questions. If
you cannot answer me can you direct me to a proper place?

My Father was a Mason. When he died there were items of his Masonic
membership left. He always wore his Masonic ring and was very proud to
do so. I never thought anything about it — but today my older
sister called me and was in a sort of panic. She has a son who is an
elder in a huge non-denominational church in Texas who told her that
Masons were not of God and asked her if our Dad was a Mason. When she
replied yes, he then asked her if she had any of his jewelry, etc to
which she replied yes, a tie tack and a ring. He told her to get rid of
them as certain illnesses were attached to them and would be passed
along to her. I cannot remember specifically what sort of illnesses
except of the "bowel" and I think throat. Since she had an intestinal
surgery a few years ago, she has now concerned herself that this is
because she has these pieces of jewelry and wants to get rid of them but
doesn't want to give them to anyone in the family because it would pass
this "curse" to them. She is also afraid of throwing them in the river
because they would infect the waters. I am truly astonished as I have
never heard anything like this. I would like to find something to send
to her or to show to her that this is untrue. Her son even told her
that Indian rituals were harmful.

I plead with you to help me with this. I am a Baptist — I have
no fear of my father belonging to the Masons, nor to the fact that I
belonged to the Rainbow Girls and others to Eastern Star. I am totally
helpless in knowing how to broach this subject to my sister to be able
to convince her that what she was told is wrong. I did go so far as to
tell her that I imagine in her son's church they have certain things
they do (which could be referred to as rituals) that may affect how we
feel about his beliefs.

HELP HELP HELP

Judy C. Owens

Dear Ms Owens,

I'm sorry to read of your situation. Putting people into a panic
about Masonry is a common tactic for some of these churches. It would
be a shame if your nephew stampeded your sister into disposing of what
ought to be a cherished family keepsake, or even a meaningful
remembrance gift someday to a younger family member.

Fortunately, there is a website that can help you. It is called
"Anti-Masonry Points of View" at www.masonicinfo.com/ — and
you can find a lot of good info there. Although this will help you
understand the "anti-Masons" and where they are coming from, and show
you many of their arguments — even with all that, I don't know if
it will help convince your sister.

My experience is that many people believe that kind of nonsense
mostly because they want to. All the “facts” that
their church leaders scare them with? They believe some pretty foolish
things — for instance, that a ring or tie-tack can do bad "magic"
to a person, or make them sick — because they want to
believe those things.

When a person is set on believing something, then they don't care
about any information to the contrary, and won't listen to it. But if
your sister is not in that state, then you can share the things you
learn at that recommended website.

One page I recommend to start with would be www.masonicinfo.com/chick.htm
— as a lot of people get their mis-information about Masonry from
those hateful little Jack Chick comics that get handed out or sold in
various churches and church gift shops.

Also, the Masonic Service Association has written about this kind of
fear-mongering. You can see one of
their essays elsewhere at this website. In fact, I suspect that the
particular "comic" booklet described in this essay might be something
your nephew passed along to your sister. It certainly sounds like
it.

So, read some of those things, and let me know what you think, and if
it helps you any. It's sad when this kind of fear-spreading, which is
really a kind of spiritual bullying, comes into the home and upsets a
family. I hope you can do something to heal and calm things.

best wishes,

-- Gary L. Dryfoos
A Page About Freemasonry
now at http://MasonryPage.org